Search This Blog

Pages

Posts

[caption width="650" id="attachment_617" align="alignleft"] Brandon Dase's #trailfie captures the joy of running on mountains again after months off from an injury, hitting the summit with the sun. Good Morning! :)! #gratitude #squaw[/caption]Everything around us is light. When our eyelids are open, light passes through the corneal lens and focuses on the retinas' photoreceptive cells. It’s a small miracle that those cells can then translate that light into neural impulses that are interpreted instantaneously by the brain into what we simply call sight. Some vistas almost seem like too much to glance away from, like too much light to absorb and interpret all at once. A newborn child. A hummingbird at a honeysuckle. A panorama of nature overwhelming in its breadth and detail. Still, we eventually have to look away and the vision is gone, but somehow remains imprinted in our brains as memories.

The day before the race wasn't filled with the usual pre-race nerves. Instead it was filled with multiple hikes with friends, random ice cream trips, and assisting the race director anyway I could. Then I settled down with navajo tacos beside a campfire beside the start/finish area.

I felt like my goal time range for the race was well within reason, but when I heard at the race preview that there were 30 miles of sand (not the 20 I expected) and that the sand would be much softer/deeper than usual because of a lack of precipitation this winter, I was curious how the day would go down.

When I awoke at 5am I felt like I had plenty of time to dig through my bags, find my things, pack some drop bags, and get all ready. But after I broke my hydration bladder, found a bladder to borrow, dug out the items for my drop bags.... suddenly i…

I always choose the last taper run with care. It is mentally significant, even though the run itself is merely a chance to stay loose before race day. Today I chose the City Creek Canyon trail, which was my first trail run in Utah. I lived close to it during a rough period of life, and often late at night I'd hop onto the trail... 11pm, 1am, seeking peace. The dry grass and rutted dry dirt reminded me of canal roads in Idaho. It felt like home. Isn't that what we all want to feel when we're nervous? The simple feeling of belonging? Of home?

More and more running has been a refuge, a place of balance, a lyrical moving meditation for me. At this race I hope to find that balance more within myself. A dear friend and talented Chakras/ Color Therapist/ LNP/ Meridian coach Kathy Heinsohn took the time to chat with me this week. Many of her words have stuck with m…

On a recent flat trail run I began to drive a friend crazy by pausing my GPS stopwatch every time we had to stop for traffic or to adjust gear. Then, I didn’t start it again until I was actually running. Normally I wouldn’t have thought twice about this, but I noticed that my friend’s fingers never touched her watch other than at the outset. Near the end of the 18 miles, we approached a gate that we needed to stop and open, and I said, “Look, I’m not even going to stop my watch!” I felt like I deserved a pat on the back. I think we actually did fist bump. I closed the gate, and then immediately went to restart my watch…that I hadn’t stopped. It was then I knew I needed a stopwatch intervention.

With all of the endurance fuel drinks on the market, it’s hard to know which product is best. To satisfy my own curiosity (and because I do love a good spreadsheet) I went through the websites of various major energy/endurance products to get the nutritional content, and then adjusted everything per 100 calories in order to get a straight-across comparison.

A few items to note when comparing:

What is the carbohydrate energy source, fast-burning ingredients that can cause blood glucose levels to spike and crash like glucose and sucrose, or low-glycemic ingredients like maltodextrin and cornstarch that provide a steadier source of energy?You can always take additional electrolytes, but watch out for too much sodium per the amount of calories. On a long but not hot day, too much sodium (hypernatremia) can be just as bad as not enough (hyponatremia). Make sure you are monitoring and have control of your sodium intake, as either condition can be race altering and even life threatening.How lo…